


Suitors and Trust

by LaBelleetlaloup



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Book 3: Fire, F/M, Gen, Implied Katara/Haru (Avatar), Implied Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Marriage, Marriage Contracts, Minor Aang/Katara, Minor Sokka/Suki, POV Katara, Season/Series 03, accidental proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-25 02:37:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9798857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaBelleetlaloup/pseuds/LaBelleetlaloup
Summary: This started as an accidental proposal idea and it sort of grew from there, so there's also a lot about Katara not trusting Zuko in season 3.





	

Toph, Teo, the Duke, and Haru had all been blessed to have never faced Zuko in combat. Even after he burned Toph’s feet, it took very little for the Earth Kingdom people to warm up to him.

Aang was always assuming the best in everyone. He did not comprehend artifice and sarcasm often went right over his head. Particularly after they went to that old abandoned temple to the sun, Aang welcomed Zuko with open arms.

Suki and Sokka and her father trusted him because they had fought together to get out of that prison.

Katara had no such bond and she had the firm knowledge that Zuko had flirted with the idea of joining them before – locked in that crystal prison under Ba Sing Se with her – only to change his mind the second Azula opened her mouth and even betray his own uncle. She could not trust that this was not some kind of plot. It was still entirely possible that Zuko was here on orders from his father to find and assess the enemy and wait for reinforcements. Katara kept half her attention on the skies at all times.

Zuko, of course, was not an idiot. He knew that she did not trust him. He had tried several times to make vague apologies. He had once tried to apologize for hunting her across the world and attacking her. It was obvious that he had no idea what the source of her distrust was. He was trying but it meant little. His act had been more believable the first time and she would not be fooled twice.

Aang had had a break from fire bending training that morning despite Katara’s reticence. Directly after breakfast he had worked on earth bending with Toph and then Katara had taken over with some water bending exercises. So she had not been the one cooking lunch and she and Aang did not stop until Sokka said that lunch was ready. Katara managed to get a seat between her father and Suki, leaving Aang on the other side of the circle. Everyone else was already served. So Sokka handed a plate to Aang and Zuko picked up two.

“I am trying to prove myself, you know. I hope you will accept it eventually.”

Katara froze. Zuko was still standing there, looking innocent, holding out the plate of food. She shook her head. His wording was only coincidental. He was from the Fire Nation. He meant nothing by it because he certainly could not have a clue what he had said. She took the food silently. At that same moment, Sokka had knocked Zuko to the ground and her father had cried out in wordless protest.

“He didn’t mean it, Sokka!” Katara set the food aside hurriedly.

“Sokka, let the man up,” her father agreed. “He doesn’t even know what he said.” Sure enough, when Sokka stopped trying to throttle Zuko long enough to look up in confusion, Zuko looked completely bewildered.

“You somehow managed to find almost the exact wording for a traditional proposal at the South Pole. Congratulations.” Katara was very exasperated by the entire situation.

“I did not intend that. I had no idea. I was just trying…”

“You better not have had any idea,” Sokka growled and then let Zuko up. “I’m not letting anybody just skip all the appropriate courting rituals with my sister. She deserves better than that.”

“I didn’t mean anything,” Zuko insisted. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“I never thought you would,” Katara murmured wryly to herself. They had almost had a moment in the cave, when she had offered her bending to him, but then rescue had arrived and only a moment later Zuko had betrayed them all. Her father was eyeing her in confusion, but he had waved Zuko off and Sokka had sat down. Katara finally noticed that Aang was cackling. The situation hadn’t been funny.

“What’s so funny?” Suki asked after a long moment of Aang cackling, oblivious to everyone else staring at him in confusion.

“Well obviously he wasn’t proposing,” Aang explained. “It’s Katara!” She tried not to take it the way it was said. It probably had a lot more to do with Aang feeling entitled to her affections after that pre-battle kiss he had stolen than him finding it ridiculous that anyone might want to marry her. Sokka had gritted his teeth at Aang, but had not said anything.

“That’s awfully rude to say,” Haru finally broke the awkward silence. “Katara’s a lovely girl. Just because you’re too young to be interested in such things doesn’t mean that anyone wouldn’t be lucky to have her.” Katara couldn’t fight back the giggles.

“Thank you,” her father said pointedly, sending a dark look Aang’s direction.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Aang tried to explain. “Just Zuko… with Katara. That’s not something that would ever happen.”

“So it’s me you’re insulting?” Zuko asked with a carefully blank expression. “I had thought we were becoming friends, Aang.”

“How do you think I was insulting you?” Aang looked truly bewildered. Zuko gave up and looked away.

Suki was the one to speak up, “Well, first you said Katara wasn’t good enough for anyone. Then you corrected to say that you meant Zuko wasn’t good enough for Katara specifically. I don’t see how someone isn’t being insulted unless your wording is very poor indeed.” Aang gawked, mouth opening and closing like a fish.

“He meant that he personally couldn’t imagine Zuko and Katara in a relationship, not that either one of them wasn’t good enough,” Sokka explained stiffly. “Unless I’ve also misunderstood?”

“No, that was it,” Aang agreed with a grin. “Besides, wouldn’t he need a necklace? The Water Tribes propose with necklaces.”

“The Northern Water Tribe has necklaces given as betrothal presents,” Katara corrected stiffly.

“At the South Pole, it is a gift of food,” her father continued easily. “Either caught yourself or prepared yourself. I’ve never been any good with seasoning, so I took down a wild tiger seal and gutted it for Kya. My mother generously cooked it for me. As Zuko did make lunch today, it would technically count as an appropriate gift if they had already been courting. As they have not and he was unaware of the significance of his words, obviously there’s no reason to make a fuss.”

“No reason at all,” Katara agreed. Aang was staring at her father in bewilderment. “What is it, Aang?”

“But why don’t you do the same things? You’re all Water Tribe, aren’t you?”

“One hundred years of war,” Zuko rightly guessed. “And there must have been some differences even beforehand because the Southern Tribe has always been classified as an imminent threat, but the Northern Tribe has never brought warriors outside their walls or launched a single attack. That’s why we’ve mostly left them alone throughout the war.” Aang was still completely confused on the matter.

“I suppose I’d probably end up with a necklace anyway.” Katara set her food aside. After this conversation, she wasn’t hungry.

“There has to be another way,” Sokka insisted hotly, switching to their native tongue.

“You know there isn’t. Pakku took mostly grown men and more women.”

“We could have a discussion. Chief Arnook seemed very reasonable to me. Surely he’d understand the importance…”

“Sokka, you can’t get something for nothing. Particularly not men for a decades’ worth of women to marry for nothing.”

“They’re horrible up there! I was never as bad as that. You can’t live there.”

“Children!” their father snapped.

“Sorry, Ada,” they chorused.

“Katara, when have I ever given you the impression I would sell you for anything?” he cupped her chin in his hand.

“Ada, it’s just sense. I needed to go north to learn bending anyway. Sokka could take your place, but he can’t marry everyone our age. Saddak married Rinna before you left and, other than Sokka, the next oldest boys are Tana’s twins and they aren’t yet ten. It’s not that we didn’t have any children, it’s just that we all turned out girls.”

“Oh, dearheart, you carry too much burden on your little shoulders.” He sighed deeply. “You know I would never ask such a sacrifice of anyone.”

“I know you would not ask it of me, but I am aware enough to know it is needed. The tribe cannot continue like this and you don’t know what they’re like up there. No matter how reasonable Sokka thinks that Chief Arnook would be, I cannot imagine that they would be willing to give up so many young men of marrying age for a promise of trading or ships.”

“Oh, my little one!” he pulled her into a tight embrace. “We will find another way to continue. That’s what we’ve always done. Like water, we find a path – even through the hardest glacier.”

“If there isn’t one available, we carve one through,” Sokka finished the proverb. “We don’t marry our little sisters off to ridiculous idiots who tell complete strangers that they proposed to someone purely to advance their rank in the army.”

“Is that why you were so adamantly against Yue’s betrothed?” Katara turned her head to look at her brother.

“Yes!” Sokka exclaimed. “I had just been introduced to him and he says this to me in a room full of people as though it’s reasonable to marry someone so you control the army. And no one else seemed at all concerned about the fact that this kind of idiot would be their chief!”

“I don’t want to marry into the Northern Tribe. Gran-Gran left for good reason and they’re still so bad they can’t have changed much. But we must put the good of our Tribe before our personal preferences.”

“If you want to marry Cikuq, no one is going to stop you,” Sokka said with exasperation, rolling his eyes. “We can figure out another way.”

“Are you ever going to let that one go? I said I thought you should marry her.”

“Yes, because you couldn’t imagine ever having trouble getting along with her. Now, was that because of the beautiful eyes or her lustrous hair or…?” Sokka teased.

“Lay off your sister. Cikuq is a very lovely young woman, as I remember. Perfectly acceptable for either one of you.”

“Ada!” Katara yelped.

“One of many good things about our chiefs being chosen by the council is that there is no pressure for our children to marry for an heir or advantage.”

“Um, what are you guys saying?” Toph interrupted.

“Sorry, we were just having a family discussion,” Katara replied in the common tongue.

“Right…” Toph did not seem to take that as a proper explanation, but at least she seemed willing to let the matter drop.

“I hope I didn’t inadvertently cause any distress,” Zuko said warily.

“We weren’t talking about you,” Sokka rolled his eyes. Aang seemed to brighten up. Katara took a deep breath through her nose. They had not been discussing him either.

“Katara, we’ll discuss this more later. Please, eat.” Her father gave her a pleading look. Katara obediently picked up her bowl and tried to eat. The vegetables and meat looked perfectly good but everything was bland and tasteless on her tongue. She kept swallowing her food anyway. She did need to eat and keep up her strength.

After lunch, Sokka and their father were dragged away by Haru and Teo to see about something in the temple. The Duke went with them. Toph grabbed Aang for more earth-bending training. So when Katara and Suki were gathering up dishes for washing up, Zuko offered his assistance and they all three ended up at the river together.

“I really didn’t mean to cause any offense,” Zuko insisted.

“Sokka wasn’t lying. We weren’t talking about you. We weren’t talking about anyone in particular, actually.”

“I wasn’t trying to insinuate that he had lied or misled. I just meant that I seemed to have overstepped earlier. I was trying to apologize.”

“You aren’t very good at them.”

“I’m a little out of practice.”

“You didn’t really cause any offense. You just startled us and Sokka’s been restless.”

“If you insist,” Zuko let the matter drop. Suki thankfully elbowed her way between them. Katara was grateful for it.

“Were you talking about me?” Suki asked, pale and concerned.

“Oh, dearheart, no!” Katara abandoned the dishes to wrap the other girl in a tight hug. “No, we weren’t arguing about you. We were talking about me. Besides, the chief of the Southern Tribe is elected by the council. Sokka doesn’t have to marry within the Tribe if his heart chooses otherwise. Neither of us do.”

“So why were you arguing then? I didn’t realize you had any suitors,” Suki said innocently. To be fair, Aang did not treat her like you treated someone you fancied. Katara still stiffened.

“I don’t.” Her tone was defensive.

“Then what was the problem?”

“It’s more a problem of the Tribe. It’s just, we had about ten years where the birth rate was normal but Sokka was the only boy who survived his first winter. We need men, young men to agree to come down from our sister tribe so that the marriage and birth rate don’t plummet for a decade. As it is, our last marriage was three years ago and we don’t have any babies under two years…”

“But what does that have to do with you, Katara?” Suki still didn’t understand.

“The easiest solution is to sell Katara in marriage to get the men they need,” Zuko said softly. He looked sympathetic. She ignored it.

“Yes, it is. I’m the current chief’s daughter and I’m the last waterbender. It should be an acceptable offer. And if I’m gone, then there shouldn’t be any more raids. I’ll be able to train more with other masters in the North. The Southern bending style is already gone forever.”

“We’re going to end the war, though. There won’t be any raids, anywhere.” Suki seemed certain.

“Are we?” Katara muttered, looking over at Zuko. Zuko froze with shock. He blinked at her.

“That’s why you don’t trust me? You think this is all a plot to take out Aang?” He did at least have the decency to feign shocked outrage. Katara did not believe it.

“It is a little more devious that your nation’s usual tactics of razing everything to the ground, but Azula did something very similar in Ba Sing Se and I remember who you left with. It wasn’t us. It wasn’t even your own uncle.”

Zuko stiffened. “I made a mistake.”

“Did you?”

“Katara!” Suki protested. “There’s no reason to distrust him. He was more than helpful in getting me and your father out of prison! Azula tried to drop us all into boiling water, including him. If this was some elaborate plot, then why would she risk his life?”

“To convince you that he’s trustworthy. But clearly he isn’t dead. All of you managed to escape unharmed. And he brought a giant Fire Nation airship back here. How long do you think it’s going to take for someone to track that down? It’s going to lead them straight to us.”

“It’s not that visible from the sea and it isn’t visible at all from the air. They aren’t going to be able to track it,” Zuko protested.

“Why not? What else do they have to do? The war’s over, Zuko. Ba Sing Se fell. The Earth Kingdom army is disbanded. Our army is in prison. And the North clearly hashed out treaty terms long ago. Maybe Aang can take out the Firelord, but more likely we all either die or end up imprisoned somewhere.”

“You can’t think like that!” Suki was horrified. “He’s the Avatar.”

“He’s a child. The Firelord has been training his entire life. Maybe he can only bend one element, but he’s also not going to be pulling his punches and quoting proverbs.” This was perhaps a gross exaggeration. But Zuko was most likely reporting back to the Firelord himself, and it would be best if he was not expecting much of a fight.

“I thought you had absolute faith in Aang.” Zuko was very confused.

“I tried that. We still failed. My father was forced to surrender himself and nearly all the men of our tribe. Maybe being realistic is a better option.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do this.”

“You aren’t the center of the world, Zuko. Everything doesn’t revolve around you.” Although she had been saying those thing precisely because he was listening. Finally they were finished with the dishes. Katara opted for a strategic retreat. She took a load of dishes back up to the camp as quickly as feasible and then disappeared back into the labrynthine halls of the temple before Suki or Zuko could catch up. She just needed a little time to herself for a moment. Talking about the possibility of marrying into the northern tribe and discussing her distrust of Zuko all in the space of one mealtime was a little too much to easily deal with. Especially since her father wanted to continue the discussion later.


End file.
